


Kryptonite

by Wallflower671



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Cute, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Small, nice drew
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-24 09:43:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 9,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1600307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallflower671/pseuds/Wallflower671
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If Jason is Superman than Leo is his kryptonite and Lois Lane in one. To lose Leo would be his greatest nightmare and ultimate weakness. It just so happens the Minotaur was aware of the fact. Slash.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mondays

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Achieving Elysium](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Achieving+Elysium).



To be completely fair Leo should've seen this coming. I mean, he was a demigod, and a fairly powerful one that constantly hung out with other insanely powerful demigods. So yeah. He should've known that he was basically a magnet to all monsters, and stepping out of Camp Half Blood's protective bubble practically spelled his death. He didn't care though. Drachmas didn't necessarily pay bills and he was just itching to get out and rejoin the world. So, he got a job, a part-time job, with Chiron's permission.

It was a nice, little job at a spare parts shop affectionately named Rusty's, where he often got to work with his hands and talk with normal people. It was a cool gig, his boss was laidback, his coworkers were like another family, plus the pay was great. The danger of being a demigod was pushed back further and further into the crevices of his mind until it was completely forgot.

He no longer brought his celestial bronze hammer with him or his trusty tool belt. In four months' time he fell into the peaceful lull of safety until one particularly sun-shiny June day when reality decided to pay him an overdue visit.

Leo swept in from the backroom as soon as heard the cheery chime of the doorbell reverberate through the small shop. He seated himself on the high stool at the reception desk, grinning largely as he watched another confused customer glance around the shop. As expected the man tried to riffle through the many plastic boxes of clutter, and not knock anything over in the spaces afforded to him. Leo usually waited a minute or so until he called them over.

"Excuse me, sir! My name is Leo Valdez and I would be happy to help you in any way possible!" he said breezily. The man bounded over rather quickly, a shit-eating grin on his features by the time he was in front of Leo.

Leo couldn't help his gulp as he stared up at the man he was supposed to help. By the Gods was he huge, he made the most dedicated of body-builders look puny. He was dark, incredibly hairy, and dressed in skintight clothing with his many muscles straining underneath the thin, stretchy fabric. Leo gulped again. He refused to let his smile falter; it was his duty to help the customer no matter how physically imposing they may be.

"So, what do you need help with today, sir? I saw you looking through the doohickeys and thingamajigs —."

The man grunted at him. Actually grunted, stopping Leo midway. His beady black eyes narrowed down at Leo, and then as quick as a snake the hulking man gripped onto his wrist and tugged. Leo fell forward with a loud yelp, "What the hell man! You can't just do that to people, no matter," Leo lost his words yet again.

Holy Hades.

He stared up at the 'man' and realized it was no longer a man. It was a giant, bleeping, hairy as Tartarus Minotaur with a grin so evil and vile Leo actually felt his inside chill in fear. His hands immediately went down his waist where his tool belt and hammer should've been strapped, but he gripped thin air.

"Crap!" he yelled. "I am so dead!"

The Minotaur roared at him, slimy spittle coating his face. In the next moment he was slung onto the Minotaur's right shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and then the Minotaur took off. Leo didn't know whether to be grateful that it was only him at the shop today, or incredibly unlucky.

The only thing he knew was that he was royally fucked.

Gods, he  _hated_  Mondays.

 


	2. Missing Lion

Jason knew something was off the minute he scored the winning basket against Percy. It was an intense game and like everything else, it was something that they both had to challenge each other at. He and Percy were great friends and all, but it was in their godly blood to be naturally competitive when it came to each other.

So there he was, scoring the winning basket, and grinning like hell when it went through the hoop. He was sweaty as heck. His shirt was off and he was totally smirking at Percy. He mouthed over to the Sea Brat, 'Me ten, you nine,' absolutely loving the scowl etched on his face afterward. Piper gave him a kiss on the cheek, said something, and then that was it. They grabbed their things and started to head off in their own different directions when Jason froze.

"Jason," came Piper's concerned voice.

He stared at her for a moment and then tilted his head. It was quiet. Too quiet. Where, he whipped his head side to side, studying the basketball area, but all he saw where Apollo and Mars children… no elfish Latinos covered in odd messes and stains anywhere.

"Jason?" Piper said again. Jason frowned.

"Where is he?" Jason blurted. He ignored the raised eyebrows from his friends.

"Who is he?" Annabeth asked, she folded her arms and eyed him critically. Jason subtly shuddered, he hated the way the daughter of Minerva stared at him. Her grey eyes were too unnerving, it like she was trying to discover all his in-and-outs, his innermost secrets.

"Leo," he said, turning his back to Annabeth, "where is he?" he chewed on his lip minutely, thinking. "I haven't seen him since… I don't know." He twisted around to reface his friends only to see confused faces, well, confused faces from everyone aside from Nico and Annabeth.

"Check his cabin or the forges," Nico offered. He started to walk off in the direction of Leo's cabin, Jason immediately followed him without a glance back. They arrived in less than two minutes. Lucky for them little Harley was outside of the giant entrance milling about.

"Harley," Nico said. Jason watched in amusement as Harley jumped a foot in the air. His bright green eyes brightened considerably when he focused on the two them, he even smiled, showing off his missing front teeth.

"You're here!" he squealed. "I'll go get Nyssa!" He zoomed straight into the metal cabin with another excited squeal. Jason and Nico shared a single look before Nyssa sheepishly came out with a small yellow console. If Jason didn't know any better he would think Nyssa was holding a DS Lite.

Harley made his reappearance. He tugged on the side of Nyssa's overalls, practically bouncing. "I told you they would come. I told you that they'd notice and come to save Brother Leo!" he exclaimed.

"Save Leo?" Jason and Nico uttered in unison. Nico though took the initiative, he stepped forward and frowned. "Save Leo?" he repeated. "Why do we need to save Leo and what do we need to save him from?" Nyssa sighed and brushed stray hairs out of her face, she then ushered Harley back inside with another sigh.

"Leo has gone missing," she said very lowly. She stepped closer to them and held her device out. Jason realized it was in fact a DS Lite, but it was no game she playing. On the bottom screen was a list of Vulcan kids and next each name and tiny picture was a little dot. He noticed that all the Vulcan kids had some sort of green shaded dot except for two. Andrew Carnegie had an orange-reddish dot, and the other had a completely black one; the other one being Leo.

"Why is Leo's dot black?" Jason questioned, ignoring the uneasy feeling beginning to grow in his stomach. Black, pitch-black, was never a good color.

"This," Nyssa gestured to the DS Lite, "is sort of a tracker for all Hephaestus children and their current situation. Green means great. Yellow means okay. Orange means sickly. Red means wounded badly, but they'll live. Black means mortal danger, Leo's color changed from orange to black about ten minutes ago…"

Jason didn't hear the rest of the conversation. All he heard was loud static, the kind you get when your TV isn't connected to the cable box. He vaguely recognized the camp's bright and sunny sky turning dark with heavy storm clouds, and then tell-tale boisterous clap of thunder. He heard himself whistle into air.

In an instant, white-hot lightning shot from the sky in front of Jason. His horse, Tempest, made of spiraling black winds whinnied at him as if to say: 'Climb on!' Jason swung himself onto Tempest, looking down at Nico and Nyssa. "Do you have his location?" he asked hollowly, the static still present in his ears.

Nyssa nodded gravelly. "He's on Swinburne Island."

"Ok," Jason replied in the same hollow tone. He gripped Tempest's mane, which crackled with lightning. His horse whinnied once more and arced before bounding off into the sky, running like the wind, off to Leo.

Jason prayed they got there in time.

 


	3. Fighter

"¡Ay!" Leo screamed in absolute pain as his body was thrown around like a ragdoll. He was slammed to the cracked concrete floor. His body shivering violently as he shakily pushed himself off the ground. He spit out yet another mouthful of scarlet blood.

Black dots danced in his vision, his body was screaming at him to not get it up, it couldn't take it anymore, but Leo ignored his pain, wavering where he stood. He would not be beaten into submission. He spit out more blood and then swiped a hand across his lips. "Is that all you got, you overgrown Sasquatch!"

The Minotaur roared, the horrendous sound ricocheting against the stone walls. It charged at him, extremely pointy horns first. Leo's eyes widened, he immediately dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way. He groaned when sharp pebbles and shards of glass jabbed themselves into his soft skin but it was certainly better than being eviscerated.

Leo chuckled and choked, his brown eyes slid to the broken fragments of the wall where the Minotaur barreled through. He hoped that damn thing's momentum had sent it straight into the Atlantic Ocean where it drowned.

A heart stopping growl ripped through the stale air setting Leo's hair aflame a few seconds later. Yup, that gave him his answer. He coughed again and attempted to make his body move. He had been riding on the coattails of his flight-or-fight response for what he guessed was a day and half without any respite. He was going on empty but he made a silent promise that he'd keep fighting until someone saved him.

It took an immense amount of effort to lift his head and even more so to gather his fire in one hand. The Minotaur's resounding stomps back to their little hovel sent Leo's heart beating a mile a minute. He was a fighter though; he'd keep on taunting the Minotaur and standing his ground even if it killed him.

"I'm fired up, ugly. Let's go!"

Dammit, twenty minutes had passed agonizingly slow. The Minotaur held Leo in one large hand, its giant appendages slowly but surely squeezing the life outta him. It was hard for Hades' sake; he was struggling to get a breath in to no avail. Black was beginning to dominate his vision. He could feel his innards mushing together in impossible knots.

He threw up another bucket of blood. He was going to die like this, a Leo pancake.

He toed the line of unconsciousness failing to notice the dark clouds that spontaneously came out of the nowhere, or the winds that began to pick up speed. The Minotaur dropped him to the ground without a second thought, its giant hooves thankfully stepping over him.

The clouds became black as night, thunder sounded across the sky like war-drums and murderous lightning followed after it. The winds correlated with the sky howling in pure rage as it pounded furiously against the small building.

Brilliant blue lightning zapped from the heavens onto the middle of the concrete floor. A loud neigh filled the air, Leo would've smiled if it hadn't hurt so much, he recognized the venti.

"Jason," Leo murmured, his eyes slipped close just as he saw Jason's golden javelin cut through the air. He heard the thunderous topple of the mighty Minotaur and its final terrible screech. He recognized the frantic shout of his name and then nothing.

Nothing at all.


	4. Downpour

Jason held onto Leo as tightly as possible as Tempest raced to Camp Half-Blood. He dared not look at his unconscious friend for longer than a second. Jupiter's blood ran thick within him and to see Leo all bloodied and beaten, practically on Death's door, made his godly blood scream at him, beg him to go back to the Minotaur's hideout and annihilate everything within sight.

He had to focus on getting Leo help and fast. The winds listened to his thoughts and propelled Tempest forward. They arrived at Camp in five minutes. He slid off of Tempest and held Leo close in his arms.

What had happened while he was away Jason did not know, but there was suddenly a large, white tent tethered to ground right in front of him. Immediately two figures dressed in light blue scrubs came from the tent. The tallest figure gestured to Jason to transfer Leo, but he held on. He swept passed the persons into the tent where a team of Apollo and Asclepius children were waiting for him.

"Where?" Jason said, voice tight. One pointed to a single white bed where Leo was carefully set down. Like a switch, the team all dressed in scrubs flew into action. They barked orders to each other in Ancient Greek, all of them working over Leo in a chaotic frenzy.

Jason wished he could've said he stayed by Leo's side and watched them save his best friend from the brink of death, but he didn't. He cannot. He recognized the static presence back (perhaps it never left) in his ears and the same vaguely empty feeling washing over him the minute the they ripped Leo's shredded shirt off and produced a defibrillator. Someone was talking to him and pushing him out of the tent, and he let them.

The funny thing was as soon as he stepped outside it started to rain and not the light kind, it was a torrential downpour. Jason merely stood there, staring up into the sunless sky, his blue eyes were dull. His only thoughts were centered on his elfish lion in tent behind him.


	5. Death Meets a Vulcan

"His heart!"

"He's losing too much blood!"

"Give him the nectar IV,  _ **hurry!**_ "

… This was the main gist of the conversations that surrounded him. Leo tried to talk to the shadowy people that surrounded his person but he could not, what fell from his mouth was silence. He struggled more and more to talk, or wave his limbs, to do something to grab their attention. It was for naught. They just passed around, talking to each other… their cold shadowy hands moving all of his body.

But Leo would not give up. He waved. He shouted. He spit. He laughed. He cried but they ignored him like he wasn't even there.

"Stop child," a gravelly voice said, "they cannot hear or see you."

Leo turned his head so fast he was sure he got whiplash. He gaped at the entity that stood at the end of his bed. He was a contradiction of sorts, to look like he belonged around here yet he did not, which was startlingly to say the least. His golden eyes which betrayed no emotion fixated on Leo. "Thanatos," he breathed to the teak-colored deity.

"Leo," he returned as he tapped mindlessly on his black Ipad.

Leo admitted to himself that he was scared. Scared of Death and what It entailed. "What are you doing here?" he asked lowly.

The corner of Thanatos' lips quirked at the slightest, his golden eyes continued to bore into Leo as he shrugged subtly. "I think you know the answer to that, Leo. I only ever appear when it is time for someone to leave the living plane."

Leo frowned and crossed his arms, a mask to what he honestly felt. "Tough nails, Mr. Reaper, I'm not ready to go."

"Oh?" Thanatos said with the barest hint of amusement. He raised a thin black eyebrow. "Who says you have a choice? If in fact I say that it is your time to go, then, it is your time to go. There is no stopping death."

Leo gulped but still kept on. "I get that, bony, and I would come with you if I was old, saggy, and grey. I'm not though. I've got a life to live and ain't nobody gonna stop me from living it. Not even you, Thanatos."

He gave Thanatos his hardest look raising his own challengingly eyebrow. Thanatos' golden stare never left his face, it was a battle of the wills. Leo wouldn't back down though. He was determined. He'd stay in this staring contest for all eternity if he had too. Death wouldn't win.

"You've ruptured two of your major organ systems. You're suffering major head trauma and you're bleeding a copious amount of blood. Would it not be easier for you to rest, it'd take nothing less of a miracle to save you," Thanatos drawled.

Leo clucked his tongue. "You better get started on that miracle than buddy boy, I'm not leaving with you."

Thanatos continued to stare and Leo stared right back. Suddenly, Thanatos burst into a fit of rambunctious laughter. It took a moment for him to gather his bearings, but when he did, he gave Leo a true smile. It was a beautiful, timeless smile, he noted absently. He watched Thanatos turn on his Ipad and tap away for a few seconds until his screen faded his black.

"You're alright, kid. I can't wait until you finally croak."

Leo snorted. The urge to jump up and whoop was strong in him but he managed to contain it. "Hopefully it isn't soon," he said.

Thanatos offered him an enigmatic smirk this time, his form starting to shimmer. "We'll see. Until then," he held up his left hand in a way Leo remembered from Star Trek, "live long and prosper," he said and then faded away.

Leo gaped, shaking a fist, "Come on! That isn't funny! I am not a bleeping Vulcan!"

 


	6. Please

Three days and three nights Leo had been asleep, or rather in a coma. The healers said that it was his body's way of healing and as soon as it was ready Leo would indeed wake up. Now, that may have sounded good and dandy to everyone else, but Jason cannot accept that. The thing was, the healers didn't tell him when or how Leo would get up, they just kept repeating the same thing over and over again: "He'll wake up when he's ready."

Jason didn't give a damn for when Leo was ready. He, Jason, was ready right now. Those Apollo kids didn't understand how quiet it was without Leo. They didn't seem to get that life was drab, dreary, and grey without the firebug to add color and life.

Leo needed to stop being so damn selfish and open his fucking eyes!

Jason came every day to the Apollo cabin where Leo was laid silently in the back where their personal infirmary was located. Their infirmary was an open room with painted yellow walls and tiny potted hyacinths and tulips. Leo was set all the way in the right corner, nobody else ever came to the infirmary aside from him, Nico, and the random healer that came to check on Leo every once in a while. He imagined that Leo would be very lonely if it wasn't for them.

Jason mostly ignored the brooding Ghost King only focusing on Leo. To pass the endless stretches of silences, Jason started to talk. At first it was about little, filler things; his favorite color, his favorite foods, the best superhero out there, and so on and so forth. As time passed Jason steadily got more comfortable.

Their one-sided conversations morphed into stories he'd never think of telling anyone. Like how he was the clumsiest, shortest, and scrawniest person of his cohort until he hit puberty at thirteen-years-old, or that the first time he asked a girl out (he was eleven) he only got a single word out before he upchucked his breakfast.

How girly it sounded, he was opening his heart up to a comatose Leo, his feelings becoming more and more entangled with the forever slumbering boy. He hoped in some way this was helping Leo to speed up the healing process. The stories he told Leo were both for him and Jason to keep his hold on sanity.

But in the end Jason was Roman, and Romans weren't known for their patience.

As the fifth day came to a winding close, Jason on impulse grabbed Leo's closest hand. He forgot his Roman dignity; he forgot that he was supposed to be a strong, unmovable leader when events like these happened. He wanted— needed for Leo to be here with him at this moment, right now, if not he'd burst, "Wake up, Leo!" he said refusing to acknowledge the tremble in his voice, " _ **Please.**_ "

 


	7. Flotage

Leo was in a murky sea of nothingness. He was just floating about like it was the lazy river at a waterpark. Leo couldn't really say if he enjoyed it or not. He honestly felt a startlingly amount of indifference when it came to his flotage.

He was there yet not in an empty space. Floating, floating, and floating until—

"¡AY!" Leo yelped. His eyes snapped right open (when had he closed them?) and he sat up, snatching his tingly hand away from Jason's grasp. "What the hell!" he screeched, he pinned his best death glare on Jason who was right beside him. Sparky was the only one capable of making him feel like he stuck his hand in a socket. "Why in Tartarus did you do that?!"

Leo patiently waited for his answer. He ignored the dumbtarded look on his friend's face. Gods, it was like he had just seen a ghost. "Ello," Leo waved his good hand in front of Jason's face, "anyone home?"

Jason was really set on that whole -Oh-my-jeebus-I-can't-believe-it-isn't-butter look. Okay. He guessed the only thing to do was play fairsies and punch the guy to get him out of his stupor. As he curled his fist ready to give his best friend a good wallop another source of pain rained down on him. This time Leo's hand flew to the back of his head, nursing the tender spot.

"Oi!" he turned his death glare from Jason to his other best friend/brother from another mother, Nico. "Was there some sort of memo I didn't get; is it maim Leo day already?!"

"No," Nico said, cuffing Leo again on the back of the head, "but it will be if you try that stupid shit again."

Leo refused to admit to the stinging at the corner of his eyes. Nico's slaps hurt a lot, and his hand was still sort of spastic. His glare lessened at the more pronounced appearance of brokenness from Nico. He had always noticed the fragmented look in Nico's eyes (a more permanent effect from his stay in Tartarus), but he hadn't seen it this bad sense the time Percy and Annabeth fell into the hellhole. "What happened?" Leo asked softly.

Nico drew back, the shadows of the room shifting constantly. "You almost died on me, Valdez; I felt the resonance of your soul sinking into the depths of Underworld. You scared everybody at Camp… knocked out for five freaking days."

Leo averted his stare. Tiny pieces of his kidnapping, the Minotaur, and meeting of Death floated back to him. "Oh," he finally managed. "I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to be an incon—"

Nico cuffed him again, much harder than the two before, "If you dare finish that sentence I'll kill you. Hades below, you know how much I hate martyrs; I'll throttle you if you turn into one."

Leo only stared at Nico incredulous for a second before bursting into a full-belly laugh. Seriously, Nico was the only person who could say all that with a straight face and monotonous voice. "I can definitely feel the love in the air."

Nico cracked a smile. "You're cute," he said.

"I know," Leo returned with a grin. "Date me?"

Nico winked and jokingly appraised Leo, "Sure."

"Are you two together or something?" Jason finally snapped out of his stupor and asked. He glanced between Leo and Nico with a rather adorable confused expression written all over his face.

Leo gaped while Nico smirked, he ruffled Leo's hair affectionately, "I'll let you answer that honeybunch. I'll see you tomorrow." He then pecked Leo lightly on the lips, exiting the small infirmary with a wave to Jason. He and Jason were alone. He had to play this cool, which he totally could do.

… Right, if this were an anime, Leo would've been crying anime tears in his personal emo-corner bemoaning his choices when it came to friends. Nico was the freaking devil.

"Soo… you are in a relationship?" Jason pressed.

Leo shook his head so fast he was kinda surprised he didn't break his neck. "Are you kidding me? Nico can't handle my sheer sexiness and he's sorta in a threesome with the Stoll brothers…"

"Oh…" Jason answered, his tone changing from perplexed to downright chipper. Odd.

"Yeah…" Leo scratched behind his ear, noticing the thin, clear tubes of IV stuck in him. Ok. Wow. When did those get there?

Jason then smiled at him, really smiled; it was that same blinding-white Superman-esque smile that made all sorts of girls wet their panties. It made the tips of Leo's curly hair smoke a tad. Jason got up from his wooden seat, starting toward the door, "Uh… I'll go get the medics."

Leo nodded. "Yeah, you go do that, Sparky," he said as he sank back down his bed. He was feeling tired and achy suddenly.

Jason fiddled with his hands for moment before blurting out, "I'm glad you're okay." Leo did not have the luxury of answering him back because Jason flew out the door of the infirmary leaving Leo alone.

He yawned, "Sparky's a weirdo."

 


	8. Stalky McStalk Stalk

In three minutes Jason had come to the conclusion that he hated Percy Jackson. Stupid Sea Brat.

"So, you're Stalky McStalk Stalk now," Percy said as he squatted near Jason. They were currently behind an inconspicuous berry bush staring over at Nico and Leo a little more than ten feet away. Rather, Jason was holding a pair of high-powered binoculars up to eyes, grimacing every time Nico dared to touch Leo.

"Shut up, I'm not stalking," Jason hissed, burned at the slanderous accusation.

"Uh huh," Percy hummed, raising an eyebrow at him. "Then what are you doing?"

Jason fumbled for words, not that he was stalking or anything like that. It was just that he couldn't find the thoughts, let alone the  _ **words**_ , to dignify such an idiotic question. In the end, Jason sniffed, "I don't have to answer that."

Percy rolled his eyes, hiding "Stalker" behind a cough. Jason ignored the stupid Sea Brat, too focused on the Nico's hand that was a bit too clingy for his liking. Did Nico have to touch Leo  _ **every time**_  he got up to walk, or to help him grab a random item, and so on? Never mind that Leo currently wore two casts, a single brace, and was still wrapped up in tons of bandages.

"Soo… how long have you had this crush?" Percy asked.

"What crush?" Jason knitted his brows on his confusion. If Nico didn't remove his damn fingers and his stupid smirk, which smirked in a smirky way full of evil, nefarious, diabolic plots that were surely detrimental to Leo in some way… Jupiter above, he only cared about his BFF's chastity, he swore!

"On Leo," Percy said nonchalantly.

"WHAT! I DON'T HAVE A CRUSH ON LEO!" was it him, or did his voice rise in pitch?

Jason jumped up and almost immediately the storm clouds from a week ago appeared. Percy laughed, the resulting sound a haunting echo. Jason whipped around to see literally all the campers in his general vicinity, freeze, looking at him in confused terror.

Hahaha. Jason's ears flamed red.

Maybe that had been a bit louder than he thought. He yanked Percy down to the ground with him. "I don't have a crush on Leo," he repeated brutally.

Percy held up his hands in surrender wearing a mocking smile on his lips. "Ok, Jay, I understand. I guess you wouldn't really care if I said Nico and Leo are making out right now."

Jason sucked in a deep breath not even bothering to reply to Percy. He slowly turned to face the twosome in question; delaying what could have been a most hurtful scene. To his delight, Leo and Nico were how they been moments ago; they were sitting together at an unclaimed table, laughing. He put a hand to his chest to still his thudding heart.

"You're a right bastard," Jason said after a moment.

"Denial isn't just a river in Egypt," Percy breezily returned.

Jason sighed as a ringing sound made itself known. It took him a moment to realize it was from his watch. Nico and Jason had shifts when it came to Leo, every three days until Leo's bandages and casts came off he and Nico would stay with and by Leo. Nico's seventy-hours had just ended… now, it was his time.

Jason rubbed his eyes, handing the pair of binoculars to Percy. "Thanks for keeping me company, I'll see you at the sing-a-long tonight." He left it at that, heading toward Leo and Nico. He found that the closer he got, the feeling in the pit of his stomach grew, and there was no way to stop it.

...

He lied, the minute Leo's warm brown stare turned from Nico to him, his stomach calmed and his heart went into his overdrive. But the moment Leo smiled at him, Jason swore the whole world could've burned to ashes and he'd be none the wiser.

So, he might've had a tiny-weeny-yellow-polka-dotted crush on Leo.

 


	9. Lois Lane

Leo waved his goodbye to Nico, limping over to Jason. He sent Jason a tiny smile and held out his good arm. Yes, it made more sense for the Apollo kids to fashion him a pair of handy-dandy crutches, but Leo wasn't all into that look of helpless and weak. Leaning on someone to walk was just a bit better though; at least girls were all into the homoerotic tones, they'd give him of plenty of attention afterward this whole shebang went down.

Jason forwent his arm (rude much?), instead he wrapped his closest arm around his waist. He started to walk, silent and stoic, always with the blank face, his blue eyes forward. Leo sighed, ever since his teeny-weeny skirmish, Jason walked around with the biggest stick up his ass, it was like when they first met all over again: Mr. Emotionless Roman General.

How annoying.

Here they were walking step-by-step in the sweltering sun surrounded by tons of Camp kids.  _ **In pure silence.**_  This was awkward as hell. Nico wasn't much of talker, but at least he tried.

"Jay," Leo attempted.

"Jason," the son of Jupiter corrected.

"Jay," Leo emphasized with a smirk, "how have you been?"

Jason's arctic eyes slide over to him and he grunted at him as if that was an actual answer. Really. So, they continued to walk in painful, awkward, torturous, boring silence. Ouch.

Leo didn't think he'd ever be so happy to see his cabin. He urged Jason just a little faster to his metal shack, practically preening as Sparky opened the door. He breathed in the sweet scent of tabasco sauce and castor oil. "Home sweet home," he said.

Leo righted himself in Jason's hold. "Leo's Batcave, Jarvis," he said happily once they stepped in.

The cabin shook violently in response, a large piece of the metal floor cracked apart to reveal a large king-sized bed, raised on a metallic pedestal. The frame of the bed held a mini-flat screen TV and a shimmering keypad with Loony Tunes stickers instead of numbers. Leo still kept Beckendorf's design of the mini-fridge and gaming system at the floorboard. He added a few other systems to his bed such a small SMART board and mess of compartments for various stuff. He loved his bed. It was freaking awesome.

Apparently Jason had another opinion if his snort was anything to go by. Leo raised an eyebrow. "Feel like sharing with the rest of the class, Jay? Speak up, don't be shy."

Jason snorted again, his hold on his Leo significantly tighter. They climbed onto the bed; Leo struggled just a bit to press the Bugs Bunny sticker to get his bed to go down into his private bedroom. Once they were lowered safely onto the ground panel, Jason still held him clad in his iron grip.

Leo coughed, he was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic.

Leo tried to shrug out of Jason's arm. "Time to take a nice long shower, push Daffy Duck… I'll be seeing you…," he tried to pass it off a casual goodbye. Jason shook his head.

"No, I'll help you," Jason said, pulling him toward his personal bathroom. Leo stuttered, his usual mile a minute thoughts came to a shuttering stop.

"I can take a shower by myself, Pikachu. I'm a big boy!" he grinned up at the blonde hoping to see a small smile, a twitch of the eye, something to indicate that he was joking. Superman Jr. remained delightfully emotionless, he could give a statue a run for their money.

He was thrust into his personal bathroom, his clothes slowly slid from his body until he was left in his boxers. Leo curled his fists as best as he could when Jason's hands started to get grabby around his crotch area. "No," he said rather firmly in late ditch effort to preserve his dignity.

Jason glanced up once and then yanked.

Leo was suddenly feeling rather breezy. His face burned and his arm hair caught fire. No one ever listened to 'No' did they?

...

Forty-five minutes of extreme embarrassment later, Leo was resting in bed. Except he wasn't alone. His personal molester decided to climb into his bed with him. Jason had tucked him under his sheets and allowed him to use his chest as a personal pillow. Jason made a very, very good pillow, and Leo would take that bit of information to the grave.

Leo yawned, tired. He was always tired. Ever since his personal one-on-one with the Minotaur he struggled to function for more than eight hours a day, and with the added factors of a hot shower, him being doped on medicine, and Jason caressing his good arm; he was in Hypnos' hand.

He wanted to ward sleep off. He had to ask Jason a question, it had to do with his sudden personality swap before the accident. Jason was his friend. I mean, they played together, traded jokes, and did all that friend stuff. They were close-ish. Now, Jason was Mr. Icicle who happened to be the perfect Nurse Jackie on the side; silent, overprotective, and mother-henny as hell. It was pretty weird.

"Hey Jay," Leo yawned once more, fighting to keep his eyes open. "… When's my due date?"

Leo felt Jason's silent laugh. "Due date for what?"

Leo smiled against Jason, "My baby obviously, you've been treating me like a glass doll ever since you-know-what. I assumed I was secretly cooking a bun in the oven."

Mhm, Jason didn't have a snappy response to his question. His touches became slower and Leo could feel Jason's chin resting on his head. Sparky's heart was a good lullaby and he was a wonderful pillow. Jay should just hold him a bit closer… his eyes slipped shut unwillingly and soon he was off into lalaland.

He never saw the fond look Jason sent nor did feel the kiss Jason pressed to his lips. He never heard the soft, "I think I've found my Lois Lane."

 


	10. Interlude: A Frustrated Nikki

Nico was frustrated and angry.

Ok, that was normal for him, but he was all those things more so than usual. So much so that he actually denied the prospect of sex from his boyfriends. There he was, lying on his backside, naked as the day he was born, being eagerly ravished by Travis and Connor Stoll. And the things they were doing to him,  _ **Gods**_ … let's just say, the devil would've blushed.

A normal person would've been a keening, writhing, whimpering mess, but he was special. He just laid there brooding, completely unaffected by the brothers' ministrations. After fifteen minutes of soft petting from Connor, and Travis kissing the daylights out of him, Nico had had enough. He sat up, gently pushing them away, saying with the straightest face possible, "I'm frustrated."

Travis and Connor shared one look before cuddling up to him. They went through their usual inane procedure when it came to him. He was deposited onto Travis' lap and Connor saddled up them, their blue eyes shined with concern as opposed to mischievousness. To be honest it scared the heck out of Nico the first time they did such a thing, but after a while he was little touched by their sudden personality changes when it came to him.

"What's wrong?" asked Connor.

Nico sighed. Travis settled his arms around him, which made him relax. If anyone asked though, he immediately stiffened upon such contact and made some snarky comment about how utterly unneeded said gesture was. He didn't want to be treated like some girl. Back to the subject at hand, he answered with a morose, "Leo and Jason."

Travis' hold loosened a smidge at the mention of their names. Connor's face was the perfect mirror to his brother's in all situations. The brunette's eyebrows rose, at first it was the left and then the right. Nico knew what that meant. The brothers were feeling conflicted, he may have had a small crush on Jason at some point (purely hero worship, he assured you) and Leo was like a brother to him; if something happened to him he would be devastated (and probably go on a murdering rampage, but that was a minor detail).

He hurried to fix and elaborate, "Not like that, idiots. No need to look like confused, kicked puppies. It's just that Leo and Jason are acting worse than Lady Bitch and my father whenever I'm in the Underworld."

Queue two unison, "Ah."

"They're dancing around each other, flirting like no tomorrow, and you feel their pheromones start to buzz whenever they're in the same vicinity, but they remain completely oblivious," Travis laughed, hitting the issue right on the head.

"Yes!" Nico exclaimed, blowing a piece of hair out of his face.

Connor grinned at him and shrugged. "What are you gonna do about it, Nikki? You aren't exactly matchmaker material."

Nico nodded slowly. He knew that. He was the last person to be playing matchmaker. The only reason he had the two Stolls as boyfriends was because they were rather forward in their affections and very, very persuasive. Otherwise, Nico wouldn't have actively pursued human companionship on his own. He was just fine avoiding the living and talking to the dead, thank you very much.

But again, Leo was a precious person. He helped him through some really tough times and he wanted his friend to be with someone. Jason was great. He was kind and caring when he wanted to be, he was strong and resilient, and above all: He could handle Leo's fire and nurture it. They were perfect for each other and he wished there was some way to make them see… wait. He was a Greek demigod living in a demigod camp full of all types of demigods including Aphrodite ones.

Idea!

"Connor, Travis," he said after a while.

"Yes, Nikki," they replied simultaneously.

Nico grinned, his favorite grin, a shit-eating grin, "Do me a favor and bring Drew Tanaka to me. I want her unharmed too, do not aggravate her, and later we'll talk about the Sky Prat."

Connor blinked at him curiously as did Travis. Nico just pulled the closest brother to him and turned his large, brown eyes at his victim. He whimpered, "Please."

Connor and Travis had their clothes on in less than five minutes. Hook line and sinker. "We'll be back in five," they said, hurrying out of the cabin.

Nico leaned back against the bed, satisfied. He was no longer angry or frustrated. Mm, that was a change.


	11. Not Again!

Jason got up at exactly seven in the morning on Monday. He showered, he combed his hair, and he even used some of that sweet-smelling cologne Piper had bought for him. He spent an extremely long time in front of his closet, it was super important that he'd look his best today.

In the end, he went for the classic: A tight purple shirt and low-riding jeans with a few tasteful holes. His shoes were a sleek black, and to add a sort of finish to his outfit he wore a black jacket. He checked himself out in the mirror for a full five minutes before he decided that he looked good.

A quick glance at his bedside alarm clock and he was outside of his cabin. He couldn't afford to be late. Jason's pace was fast and dogged, he got to his destination in record time. His destination, you may ask, was right in front of him. Bright bubblegum pink and lacy as hell.

His common sense told him to hightail his ass out of there as fast as his legs could carry him, but something else, something more powerful, kept him in place. He steeled his buzzing nerves and headed into the famed Barbie House, gulping.

Not surprisingly, Jason was met at the front with a large reception desk, which held a shitload of hearts, doves, and roses. A pretty brunette with chocolate brown eyes sat behind the desk, a large bright pink calendar in front of her. "Hello Jason, my name is Rosie, how may I be of service today?"

Jason cleared his throat. "Uh, I have an appointment with Drew today."

Rosie nodded. Her eyes slid to the calendar and her pointer finger tapped on something scrawled on the pink sheet. "Looks like you do and you're right on time too." She smiled as she glanced back up again, "I like a boy who arrives on the dot," she winked, he cringed.

"Oh," he finally managed. Rosie stood up. She gestured for him to follow her, they headed deeper into the Love Goddess' cabin. It was clean in there, very clean, and very tasteful. The inhabitants of the cabin had style and really not of all it was supremely girly girl, he was kinda surprised to see soccer balls and instrument bows lying on the girls' beds.

Jason failed to notice when his guide stopped in front of a large white door. She knocked once and then tugged on his jacket. "You can go in now, sweetie. Good luck." She flashed him a 100-watt grin then spun on her heel and left.

He inched into the room, more than shocked to see it styled like a lawyer's office. Hundreds of large books were crammed onto the shelf. Expensive leather upholstery was everywhere. A beautiful wooden desk with various expensive knickknacks sat in the middle of the room. There was even a mini-fridge. Jason decided to sit in one of the leather chairs, comments weren't really necessary at this point.

"Dumpster Queen is right," a sultry voice drawled, "you are cute when you're confused."

A previously unturned leather spiny chair spun around. Jason wasn't shocked to see the person in the chair, "Drew."

"Bingo, sugar," she laughed. Drew was dressed like a business woman at the very top of a company; she wore a tasteful pinstripe woman's suit. She held her face with one hand, her manicured eyebrows raised. "What can I do for you?"

Jason tried to control the knot forming in stomach from her question. He licked his lips, his long fingers thrumming against the chair's arm. "I need advice on how to woe someone."

Drew arched a curious eyebrow, her brown eyes bore into his very soul. For a moment, Jason was reminded of the time he met Lady Venus, she had the very same stare. "Jason Grace? Savior of the planet, destroyer of Gaia, Roman runaway, blonde Adonis, Superman double, needs love advice? You can get any girl you want and last I checked you were dating Dumpster Queen."

Jason's gaze fell to the carpeted floor. "We broke up three weeks ago," he said shortly. He neglected to mention that it was during Leo's brief coma and he was the one to call it off.

Drew's red lip curled. "Ahh, no wonder, Pipes has been a little down lately. No matter. So, you want a girl at Camp? Woe her the old fashioned romantic way. Nice. It'll be twenty—," she stopped suddenly. "Why didn't you tell me it was a guy?"

Jason reeled back, staring at Drew with wide, wide eyes. "H-how?"

Drew shrugged. "Intuition. No matter, this changes absolutely everything. Don't look at me like that, sweetie, we are last ones to be homophobic, believe me… let's see, the price is dropped; this is free. I'll get Mitchell in here…"

Jason head was spinning so fast. He just nodded along, hoping Drew managed to store whatever in her head. The door to the room suddenly burst open and Drew rose. Her mouth hung open and her pointer finger shook at the intruding person. Jason turned to face the person, it was Nico, looking grave (haha).

"Jason. Leo's in trouble, Peleus has him!" Nico said urgently.

Jason's heart froze. The static from three weeks ago was coming back. "What?"

Nico gulped and leaned against the doorframe. "He was up near Thalia's tree and I guess he was standing too close — I don't know. Peleus has him now, and he won't let him go."

Jason nodded, quickly getting up. Drew had different plans. "Stop!" she said, charmspeak laced into her words. He of course was forced to comply. "Turn and face me." He did so, sending her his most poisonous glare only reserved for his enemies. Drew merely rolled her eyes. "I'm afraid you don't scare me much, sweetie. I just got to tell you one thing: Be yourself. Go on now, save the little elf."

Jason did not get to question her strange words because as soon as she released him, he was already halfway out the door. He raced through Camp, zooming past hundreds of campers until he arrived at Thalia's tree.

He fell to his knees when he got there.

 


	12. Mondays Again

"You're okay," stopped Leo's hand in mid-pet. His hand froze in the air and his eyes snapped open as he stared at Jason on his knees. Peleus nudged at his hand with his snout and Leo chuckled, patting the golden dragon.

"I'll be back in ten, boy," he told Peleus. He rose from his spot on the soft grass and walked a few feet over to plop down next to Jason. He bumped shoulders with the stunned blonde, a goofy smile on his lips. "You look like you've seen a ghost," he laughed, "do I have to call Ghostbusters?"

Jason faced him. No trace of amusement on his handsome features. "I'll be going now." He started to get up, but Leo pulled him back down— hard, all the amusement and the easygoing attitude he had was now gone. He was through acting like this was okay. No more.

He poked Jason hard in the chest. "What's with you lately? Huh?!" he poked Jason again. "Answer me, Sparky."

Jason frowned at him, pushing Leo's hand away. "I don't know what you're getting at, Valdez," he said coldly.

Leo sent him a nasty scowl. "Don't play dumb with me, blondie. You know perfectly well what I'm getting at. You've been blowing hot and cold with me for fucking three weeks ever since I was taken by that thrice-damned monster."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Jason returned. Leo laughed at him, it was a cruel, mocking sound.

"Me?" he pointed at himself in mock surprise. "I don't know what I'm talking about. No, you don't know what you're talking about. You aren't the one has endured his best friend constantly switching from being a weird cuddle-monster to a dick. A best friend that constantly babies him like he's disabled yet refuses to talk to him in a normal manner. You aren't the one," Leo choked, glaring.

Jason squirmed in his place. "Leave it alone. I'm sorry. I've got to go." He once again tried to get up, but Leo held firm.

"No. You're gonna sit and you're gonna tell me why you've been acting all finicky for the past month," Leo said with no room with complaint.

Jason shook his head. "You're crazy, just let me go or I'll shock you."

Leo shrugged. "Go ahead and hurt me, but I'm gonna hold you down until you talk. Have you been acting weird because you think I'm some damsel-in-distress that constantly needs saving? A weak link that requires a bodyguard, so, they don't put everyone else in an unneeded frenzy?"

"By my father, no!" Jason growled. "Why can't you just leave the issue alone?"

"Why can't I have my best friend back?" Leo countered.

"What if I don't want to be your best friend?"

Leo's fingers fell and he drew back. Jason abruptly put his hand over his mouth, shaking his head furiously. Leo hadn't a clue why he was doing that. He wasn't the one that just received that confessional. He should've known a guy like Jason Grace wasn't ever really friends with him, Leo imagined this was how one would felt after pity sex.

Pathetic and unwanted.

"Leo," Jason whispered, "I didn't mean it like that."

Leo laughed and ignored the stinging in his eyes. "Pfft. Its fine, Sparky, I understand. I guess we're like Mike and Ike, except we don't get back together again." He smiled his million-dollar-smile, laughing again. Everything was alright.

"No-no, Leo, it came wrong. It's not what it seems!"

Leo arched an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Then what is it? You clearly don't want to be my friend, Jay," he said.

Jason suddenly appeared very unsure of himself. He ran a hand threw his short hair and exhaled. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?" Seriously, Jason already friend rejected. All this, was rubbing salt in the wound. Leo wondered why in Tartarus he was still going along with Jason's charade, he should be with Nico right now, stuffing his face with ice-cream, and completely forgetting about his former BFF. Gods, he spent too much time around girls…

"I'm apprehensive."

Leo rolled his hand at Jason, a gesture to elaborate. "I'm apprehensive because I don't want to hear your rejection," he finally relented.

Did he hear him right? His rejection? Rejection from what? There was nary a thing Leo wouldn't do for the son of Jupiter. "You're full of it, Sparky. I've had enough."

"Don't go," Jason yelped uncharacteristically. "I'll tell you."

Leo sat his tush back down with a smile. "Enlighten me, young Skywalker.

Jason shifted several times, refusing to look at him in the eye. Leo was patient though. He could wait a whole millennia if he had to. What seemed like decades later, Jason looked at him in the eye, freezing all emotion. His blue eyes darkened with something he could not name. In a flash, Jason pounced on him, his face dangerously close to his.

Leo may or may not have been freaking out.

"Jay?" Leo attempted.

"You're my Achilles' heel, Leo. The one chink in my armor that can bring my defenses crumbling down to the ground. I've been so afraid to scare away my one weakness, my kryptonite," Jason said, blinking rapidly. Leo heard the slight tremor in his voice and spotted the way his body shook and how Jason struggled to hold his stare. This was genuine. Jason liked, liked him.

Leo wondered why that piece of knowledge was making him so incredibly happy.

Instead of giving Jason his answer right away, he wanted to play just a bit more. He was a natural jokester after all, "You do realize that was a whole new level of cheesy even for me."

Jason gave him such a dry look, he was sure it could turn the rainforest into the new Sahara Desert.

"Ok! Ok, this is serious, I get it. Are you asking me to be your Lois Lane, Mister Clark Kent?" Leo asked, waggling his eyebrows. Jason nodded hesitantly.

Leo grinned. "Mm," he faked hummed, "Take me out to that new burger joint and I'll give you your answer." He winked, laughing at how goofily happy Jason looked all of the sudden. "I didn't say yes, you know."

"You didn't say no either," Jason swiftly replied as he rolled off of Leo to his side.

"Less talky, more spiriting me away to the burger place," Leo said as he sat up and cracked his neck.

"You're demanding," Jason said with a smirk, he too getting up.

"Better get used to it, baby. I'm a full-time diva."

Jason didn't answer. He jumped to his feet and pulled Leo with him. It was weird seeing him wear a stupidly happy grin on his face. Leo was almost sad to see his former Ice Prince go. He recoiled just a bit when he felt Jason's tentative fingers curl around his, pulling him down the grassy hill. "Is this the happy ending I get after being kidnapped by the big, scary monster and my dashing prince saving me, admitting his undying love toward my awesomeness?"

Jason nodded yet again. "Yup."

Leo made a big show of pouting, "Where's my true love's first kiss?"

Jason stopped. He turned around and leaned down to whisper into Leo's ear. The smile he gave him afterwards was absolutely predatory. Oh wow. Okay. He liked a lot. Superman Jr. was pervert.

Pfft. Who needed true love's first whatever. Gods, did he ever mention how much he  _loved_  Mondays?

 


End file.
